FanDuel DFS Review

One of the first daily fantasy sports sites online, FanDuel was established in 2008 and is currently the largest DFS site in the industry. They average nearly 400,000 lineups per week during the football season and pay out $10 Million or more in prizes in the same period.

The company has also had several rounds of investing from some of the biggest capital firms in the world. In early September, FanDuel brought in close to $70 million in financing from a group led by NBC Sports.

They also have partnerships with some of the largest fantasy news sites online, including, Yahoo, ESPN, and CBS. FanDuel has made a bit of history by being the first DFS site to partner with a professional sports team. In August 2014, they agreed to a sponsorship deal with the Orlando Magic.

$200 Deposit Bonus for New Players at FanDuel

FanDuel offers all new players a 100% bonus up to $200 on their first deposit. While this bonus is smaller compared to some of the higher deposit bonuses offered elsewhere, they allow players to clear their bonus for the lifetime of their account.

This is an important distinction compared to other sites where first-time deposit bonuses will expire. It allows players to take their time and not be forced to play larger contests in an effort to clear the bonus.

Deposit bonuses are unlocked gradually after players enter real-money contests. They are released at 4% rate of each entry fee. For instance, if you enter a $25 contest, you will receive $1 of your deposit bonus into your account after the deposit bonus has concluded.

Interface

FanDuel’s interface is one of the best in the industry. That shouldn’t surprise you, based on the fact that they are the most popular site in the industry. People must love their product for the site to gain such a large following.

FanDuel’s lobby is all about simplicity. The lobby not only looks terrific, but it’s simple to use while offering a host of different filters. Their interface, more than any other, is excellent for someone who is new to the industry. The lobby filters allow players to separate contests by sport, league type, and entry fee.
They offer a lineup page similar to most other sites.

This allows players to keep track of their lineups across several sports and see which rosters have the most action. Importing and exporting lineups to different contests works like a charm. Players will also be able to export their rosters easily to excel, which is excellent for who like to formulate their own projections.

Mobile Site

If you’re like me, you’re often watching sports on the go, at friend’s house or bar. FanDuel offers a mobile browser version of their site along with iPhone app. The mobile site is easy to use and allows players to adjust their lineups quickly and has most of the functionality available of the desktop site.

Sports and Contests at FanDuel

FanDuel offers the traditional big-four of American sports, including college basketball and college football. The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL makeup most of the action at FanDuel. One noticeable difference from other sites is that they don’t offer PGA contests.

As far as variety of contests, FanDuel offers head-to-heads and 50/50s, large tournaments with tens of thousands in entries and everything in-between. They also have a slew of different contests, including step tournaments, survivor tournaments and a head-to-head matrix format for cash games.

FanDuel’s rosters are generally smaller than other sites. For instance, their baseball games are literally identical an MLB diamond. They only have one pitcher spot, no relivers, and no flex position. Just about every other site has two pitcher spots.

Their NFL and NBA rosters are also simplistic. They are one of the few sites that force players to roster kickers in football, something I am not a fan of in daily fantasy. Their NFL and college games are half-point PPR, rather than the full-point PPR utilizes by other sites.

Also, unlikeDraftKings, there are no bonuses for 100-yard rushing and double-doubles in NBA. FanDuel’s simple approach and basic roster structure are likely a reason casual players keep coming back.

FanDuel’s league championships are among the biggest. They have over $3 million in prize pools for their Daily Fantasy Baseball Championship and offered up a $1 million first prize for their Fantasy Football Championship in 2013.

Rake

FanDuel charges the standard 10% rake on most of their contests. Players will pay 10% up to $50 and will receive a reduction on their entry fees once the buy-in levels get to $109. The rake jumps to 8.3% there and can go as low as 6.5% for $535 leagues, their highest buy-in level.

It is worth nothing that FanDuel’s GPP rake is higher than that of cash games, albeit slightly. They rake GPP buy-ins at 10.4% up to the $25 buy-in level. However, this isn’t necessarily a big deal or even greed on their part as they have some of the largest guaranteed overlays around.

Cashier

FanDuel accepts instant deposit via Visa and PayPal. They process withdrawals back to PayPal in less than 48 hours and offer check by mail within 7-10 days. There are no fees for deposits or withdrawals, regardless of the method.

Support

FanDuel goes above and beyond when it comes to their support staff. They are the only DFS site that offers a phone number, live chat support, and email support. There is a FanDuel Forum, which also allows players to meet each other and offer suggestions to the community. They have an awesome support staff, certainly one of the best the industry has to offer.

Overall Opinion of FanDuel

FanDuel has the most members out of any daily fantasy site for good reason. As one of the industry’s pioneers, they have stood the test of time and still continue to innovate their already sterling product. There is no site online that offers more guaranteed money and bigger fields than FanDuel.